VacationSelector
Mountain Village under snow, seen from the gondola, Telluride
TellurideMountain Village under snow, seen from the gondola
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Telluride by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Telluride or Whistler?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Telluride for

  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Telluride’s own page.

Choose Whistler for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Telluride 5, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Telluride 38, Whistler 40: Whistler leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Telluride and Whistler are level on 20.
Nightlife. Telluride 20, Whistler 42: Whistler leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Telluride 93, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Telluride and Whistler are level on 30.
Good for families. Telluride 45, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Telluride 66, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Telluride 25, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Telluride 7, Whistler 12: Whistler leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Telluride 35, Whistler 15: Telluride leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Telluride 45, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Telluride and Whistler.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Telluride
36match

Wins on live music and the arts with your weighting.

Whistler
Best match
43match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Telluride in July

23 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
TellurideWhistler

Where the figures come from

Telluride has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Telluride: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Telluride / Lime (8.2 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTellurideWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,667 m670 m
Main airportMontrose Regional Airport (MTJ)64 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureTellurideWhistler
City population2,60713,982
People per km²1,37258
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Telluride or Whistler somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.